


Oblivious

by vix_spes



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur didn’t really know why he had expected anything less … this was Merlin and he should have known it was too easy. Although let’s face it … things like this only made him love Merlin more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oblivious

Arthur stood dripping in the middle of the changing rooms in disbelief, completely forgetting that he was just wearing a towel as Lance babbled at him. The minute the other man paused to take a breath, Arthur jumped into the conversation.  
  
“Merlin said what?”  
  
Lance looked slightly confused but repeated practically the first thing he said about seven minutes ago.  
  
“I said that it was a great idea of yours that we all go to see that film on Friday. The lads have wanted to see it for a while and even Gwen and Morgana are looking forward to it.” He took one look at the expression on Arthur’s face and realisation dawned. “Except you didn’t want everyone to go out to see a film and Merlin got the wrong end of the stick.”  
  
Arthur didn’t respond. He simply sank down onto the closest bench still just wearing the towel.  
  
“Shit. So you finally asked Merlin out and …”  
  
“And the little idiot didn’t realise that I was asking him out on a date. Bloody typical.”  
  
“What are you going to do?”  
  
“What can I do? Tell him that he’s an idiot and he didn’t understand what I was asking him?”  
  
“Look, if it will help Gwen and I won’t come and we can tell the others to stay away as well; I’m sure they can think up enough excuses.”  
  
“Thanks Lance, I’ll think about it. You’d better get off; Gwen will be wondering where you are.”  
  
Lance gathered up his things and left the dressing rooms, leaving Arthur simply sat there. He didn’t know why he was so surprised; this was Merlin that they were talking about. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Arthur wanted more from him than just friendship and had done for years. It was just absolutely typical that Arthur had finally managed to gather up the courage to ask Merlin out on a date and the idiot hadn’t even realised. Maybe he would take Lance up on his offer – at the rate he was going, he would be about forty by the time he managed to actually go on a date with Merlin. Failing that, he was going to have to ask Morgana for help and he shuddered at the thought of having to ask his sister anything.  
  
                                        

                                                                            ~*~

Two days later, Arthur knew that he was going to have to fall on his metaphorical sword and ask Morgana for help. True to his word, Lance and Gwen had come up with a convincing excuse to avoid the cinema trip on Friday but that still meant that rather than Friday being Arthur and Merlin on a date, it was Arthur and Merlin out with most of their friends. Besides, he hated to admit it but Morgana was pretty damn good with all that scheming rubbish not to mention matchmaking. There was also the fact that she adored Merlin and hopefully that would sway her from the fact that she was helping Arthur.

When he finally told Morgana though, to his dismay all his _beloved_ half-sister did was laugh hysterically at his predicament. As far as Arthur was concerned this meant that she was getting crap Christmas and birthday gifts for at least the next two years. When she finally stopped laughing hysterically, she poured them both a drink (rather generous servings of Arthur’s expensive whisky) and demanded all the details. By the time he had finished, the smirk and the humour had disappeared to be replaced by sympathy. Despite all of their bickering and fighting, Arthur and Morgana were incredibly close, more so than most siblings, something that had been borne out of the necessity of having an absentee father. Uther Pendragon meant a lot to both of them but they had long ago resigned themselves to the fact that they were nothing more than trophies to him.

“So, any suggestions? Let’s face it; I’m all out of ideas ‘Gana.”

“To be truthful, in order to be all out of ideas it implies that you actually had ideas in the first place and thinking isn’t exactly your strong suit brother dear.”

“Morgana, as much as I love you could you please stop being a bitch and give me some useful advice?”

“Look, if I’m honest, I can’t think of anything that’s better than what Lance suggested. I think it’s time for Leon and I to go for dinner with his brothers. I can strong-arm Gwaine and Percival into coming up with an excuse to miss out as well – maybe if I lock them in a room together with a load of alcohol they might finally shag each other.”

“Morgana, just stop talking. Please. There’s a little thing called too much information when it comes to my friends and you just crossed the line. Just sort it out please.”

                                                                                                                      (~*~)

True to her word, by the time that they all met for coffee the following morning, Morgana had worked her magic. She had obviously bullied Leon into organising dinner because he was actually convincing and it was well-known amongst the group that Leon couldn’t lie to save his life (Arthur knew for a fact that the man was a saint because how else could he have survived dating Morgana for three years and still be happy?) Who knew what she had said to Gwaine and Percival but they both came up with fairly convincing excuses and Arthur was doing a geeky little celebration dance in his head at the fact that he would finally be going out on a date with Merlin on Friday night even though it wasn’t really a date and Merlin didn’t have a clue that Arthur wanted it to be a date. Of course, he should have expected Merlin to screw everything up.

“Why don’t we just forget about Friday night? We can cancel it and then rearrange it for when we can all go at the same time. That would be much nicer.”

When Merlin piped up with that suggestion Arthur lost the will to live and, standing up, walked over to the nearest wall before starting to bang his head against the wall. Everybody else carried on drinking with the odd laugh here and there; it was only Merlin who showed any concern. When none of the others made any moves to go and check that Arthur was okay, Merlin stood up and went to place a hand on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Arthur? Are you ok? Why are you hitting your head against the wall? You need to stop it before you seriously hurt yourself. Arthur?”

“No Merlin, I’m not okay. My best friend is a complete and utter blithering idiot.”

“That’s not fair! What have I done?”

Well, at least they’d moved past the point where Merlin didn’t realise that he was Arthur’s best friend. “How difficult is it to comprehend that I wasn’t asking you out to the cinema with all the rest of our crazy friends but that I had actually plucked up the courage to ask you out on a bloody date. Was that fact so hard to grasp? Of course it was. This is you we’re talking about.”

“Arthur, what are you saying?”

Arthur’s jaw dropped and he could see the majority of their group shaking their heads in disbelief with the exception of Gwaine who was smirking at Arthur. Seriously, was Merlin this oblivious? How had he got to the age of 21 (after three years of being friends with Gwaine as well) while remaining so innocent and completely oblivious.

“What I’m saying, _Merlin_ , is that I’m completely crazy about you and I have been for years but you haven’t realised once. Did you never wonder why I stopped dating all of those girls that my father threw at me before we finished _school_? What about the fact that I haven’t dated a single person for the entire time that we’ve been at university? I finally gathered the courage to do something that could potentially ruin our friendship and ask you out on a date but you’re so dense that you didn’t realise I was asking you out on a date and ouch!”

Despite the fact that he’d been banging his head against the wall only minutes ago, it still hurt like crazy when the back of Arthur’s head smacked against wall. Before he could protest at the fact that Merlin had just smacked his head into a brick wall, his mouth was otherwise (and very happily) occupied. By the time his brain had stopped short-circuiting and acknowledged the fact that Merlin, _Merlin_ , was finally kissing him, the idiot had pulled away.

“What was that?”

“A kiss?” Merlin had that adorable befuddled look on his face, the one that made Arthur want to kiss it off that ridiculously tempting mouth (and hadn’t that been a distraction during his A-levels).

“I know it was a kiss Merlin but what I want to know is why you were kissing me?”

“Didn’t you want me to kiss you? I thought you said you wanted to go out on a date and I’ve wanted you to ask me out since we were about 16 but I always thought you just saw me as a friend and…”

Oh God, Merlin was babbling. Arthur had always been amazed that he could do this, seemingly without drawing a breath and talking complete and utter nonsense. Normally, in order to get him to shut up, Arthur would throw something at him, anything that was to hand, but now he had an even better method of shutting him up.

He wrapped an arm around Merlin’s waist and pulled him even closer for another kiss, one that Arthur could fully appreciate this time. He resisted the urge to cheer (well, he might have cheered a little bit in his head) as Merlin melted into him, moaning softly as Arthur kissed him, nipping Merlin’s bottom lip gently. As the kiss showed no sign of ending, their friends (who Arthur was genuinely considering killing) decided that this situation clearly called for banter. Even as catcalls and wolf-whistles were directed towards them, Arthur ignored them (well, except for a two-fingered salute sent in the general direction of the noise) until Merlin was giggling too much for them to continue kissing. Resigning himself to the fact that they would have to continue this at another time, Arthur pushed Merlin back slightly and towed him over to the comfy sofas where everyone was sat. Settling down amid comments and cries of “Finally!” and “It’s about time mate,” Arthur couldn’t help the smug smile that crossed his lips as Merlin sat next to him, settling in closer than he normally would so that they were pressed flush together from shoulder to knee. Of course, Gwaine then had to go and ruin everything by being his usual self.

“So, just to clarify, Friday is a date and you don’t want us there so you can snog Merlin something stupid in the back row yeah?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/70955.html)


End file.
